Each month the commissioners of the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority of St. Louis hear request after request from developers and even residents for tax abatements that usually last five to 10 years.

It's just one of the tools the city uses to spur economic development, but St. Louis officials are taking a look at how those tax incentives are distributed.

The city of St. Louis is a step closer to getting a $20 million loan to help it buy land at the proposed National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency site on the north side.

The Board of Aldermen’s Housing, Urban Development and Zoning committee voted for the measure 5- 4 on Friday. Yet some committee members expressed concern about paying the area’s largest land owner, developer Paul McKee, for the property.

The city of St. Louis is estimating it will cost $130 million to bring the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to the north side.

The figure was released Wednesday during a meeting of the Board of Aldermen’s Housing, Urban Development and Zoning committee. That money would come primarily from city and state sources, although those were not made public.

The city of St. Louis wants the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to relocate to the north side of the city. In order to make it a viable option, the city is hustling to buy all 100 acres in the proposed footprint just north of the former Pruitt-Igoe housing project site.

Yet more than half of the property is owned by developer Paul McKee’s Northside Regeneration, which received significant state tax subsidization to acquire the land.

St. Louis officials are working hard to convince the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to stay in the city. But property owners in the blocks being offered as a site for the NGA have mixed feelings.

The city of St. Louis often uses tax incentives as a means of spurring development. But one alderman wants to change how the tax breaks are given out and assessed.

Alderman Joe Roddy, D-17th Ward, told members of the Board of Aldermen’s Housing, Urban Development and Zoning Committee on Wednesday that he was forming a group to examine how tax increment financing and tax abatement is done in the city of St. Louis.

Three Missouri agencies will receive $1.6 million in federal funds to cleanup and redevelop contaminated properties.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced this week that it has selected public authorities in St. Louis, Springfield and Jefferson City, to receive the funding as part of its $15 million supplemental revolving loan funds (RLF).

After decades and decades of competing against each other for jobs, St. Louis City and County announced on Friday, a decision to partner up to attract new companies.

The proposal, called the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, would merge two agencies—The St. Louis Development Corporation in the city, and the St. Louis County Economic Development Council, under one roof.

Mayor Francis Slay says the move will create a sense of regionalism that has been lacking in economic development.